SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Neither of the committees charged with revising the city's most important documents have started their work more than a month after they were outlined in Mayor Scott Johnson's State of the City address.

The committee that will review the city's charter has not yet been fully established, and the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee has been stalled in a stalemate between the City Council's Democratic and Republican members.

Johnson, a Republican, took charge of all 13 appointments to the Comprehensive Plan committee, and Democratic commissioners John Franck, Christian Mathiesen and Michele Madigan have not been shy about voicing their disapproval of the process. They say they will declare any decisions reached by the committee "dead on arrival."

The city's mayors have historically appointed more members to the committee than the city's commissioners have, but past mayors have, for the most part, allowed the City Council to make some appointments.

"He tried to take on a process that no other mayor has tried, with the exception of Mike Lenz," Franck said. That committee was appointed entirely by former Mayor Lenz in 2005 but drew criticism from other members of the City Council. Eventually, that committee was dissolved after Lenz lost the 2005 election.

Johnson asked the City Council in his State of the City address to recommend Comprehensive Plan committee members but ultimately did not renounce control over any of the appointments. In memorandums, he encouraged commissioners to choose to appoint one of the 11 members of the 13-member committee he had already chosen.

Despite Johnson's formation of the committee, its work has gone nowhere.

"It remains to be determined how we get beyond this stalemate," he said. He argued that the council "never explored the process" before declaring the committee dead on arrival.

"They're making their final decision in a vacuum," Johnson said.

All three Democrats, though, argue Johnson doomed the committee by not including the rest of the City Council in the process. The result, they said, is a committee too heavily weighted to development interests, which does not represent the diversity of the community.

Franck said his opinion of the situation has not changed.

"It's not inclusive and it's not balanced," he said. "If the mayor was smart, he would come back and have a more balanced approach," but at this point, "it's dead."

Johnson has the support of the only other Republican at the table, Anthony "Skip" Scirocco, but does not have enough votes on the City Council to appropriate money for a consultant on the project. The Democrats have already tabled a vote on the matter, and Franck said, "I will not vote for $1 being expended on this."

"Any process without (a consultant) isn't as effective, but I don't know if it's a fatal blow," Johnson said.

Still, he said a major reason why the committee has not yet met is the absence of a consultant.

The City Council will have the final vote on whether to accept the recommendations of the committee in part, in whole or at all.

Franck said he has been approached by his constituents and those on the other side of the aisle who have voiced their opposition to the mayor's tack on the issue. Mathiesen said the same.

"He just doesn't have the public's support on this," Franck said.

At recent City Council meetings, several people have taken time during the public comment period to express their dismay over Johnson's committee.

On Feb. 19, four people voiced their disapproval, including Theresa Cappozola, who said, "The overwhelming majority of members represent development interests or rely on development interests."

She said she and others who do not support development in the city's "Green Belt" have "become powerless against development because they always seem to be in control and we don't have a seat at the table."

The way the committee was formed, she said, has stripped the public of "our small amount of power at the polls" because four of the city's five commissioners were not involved in the process.

Johnson said he has "never ruled out that they could have some input in this committee."

Mathiesen said he has sent Johnson several requests to meet and discuss a compromise and has received no response.

"I think we could fix this in five minutes," Franck said. "He just won't do it."

Johnson said he just wants to get past the committee and onto the process.

"I think there is a lot of misconception out there implying the process will somehow not involve the community at large," he said, adding that once the process is under way, all neighborhood associations will be invited to participate, as well as other interest groups.

"We had every intention, and still do, for total community involvement with every stakeholder," Johnson said. "Certainly, this is a community process."

But the Democratic commissioners believe involvement has to be allowed from the start.

"I think the mayor should go back to square one and talk to the council," Mathiesen said.

The charter review committee is a different story.

No one disputes that Johnson has sole purview over that committee, and the mayor said he expects to have an announcement "in the near future."

"It's taken a back seat," he said, adding that he did not want to draw his own focus away from the Comprehensive Plan committee at this point.

Mathiesen said he hopes that when that committee reviews the city's charter, it will clarify the issues surrounding the appointment of the Comprehensive Plan committee.